Burning Fate
by Bandit-sama
Summary: While traveling, the Sanzo Ikkou become trapped within The Village of the Gods. But what happened there over five hundred years ago will affect the Sanzo Ikkou through a painting and a rumor of another Sutra within the town. No pairings, AU.
1. Fate

I don't own Saiyuki or any of its characters. I only own the male youkai in this chapter, the village, and the unnamed girl.

I'm rewritting this story totally. The OC in the first version was just too much of a Sue and the story wasn't going anywhere so I'm redoing everything. Now I know where I'm going, my writing has gotten much better, and the OC won't be following the Sanzo part around. This story won't foucs on the OC, but instead will be like the "Detour Arc" or the "Kami-sama Arc". It will focus more on the Sanzo party, their troubles, past lives, and how they get to another Sutra (or not). The OC will only be more of a background character. There are no pairings. (Well Gojyo's always hitting on some woman soo...) This is to take place during the Reload manga, right after the meeting of Hazel and Gat.

I really hope that my loyal reviewers, **midnightwanderer254, i love athrun,** and **Icy AngelWings** will like this story a lot better then the one before, seeing how everything is a lot better.

Enjoy!

* * *

The night had started just like any other night; the Sanzo Ikkou had gotten a hotel room, ate at a local bar, and were walking back to the hotel when a group of youkai attacked. Nothing out of the usual.

"Five!" Goku counted as he knocked down a youkai. "How are you comin' along Kappa?"

"Shut it Monkey!" Gojyo yelled back as he too took down a youkai.

The group began fighting once more until four youkai remained. Gojyo, Hakkai, Goku, and Sanzo moved into a small group with Sanzo standing in the front. Sanzo pointed his banishing gun at the four youkai, and fired three times until three youkai fell. The leftover youkai began to back away when it fell and tripped over a root from a tree.

"You!" the youkai yelled. "You are…youkai…What are you doing? You're supposed to be on our side!"

Sanzo's right eyebrow twitched. "Don't group me up with them."

Goku grinned. "I'm on my own side!" he said with pride.

"Bastards!" the youkai screamed.

"Who sent you?" Sanzo growled.

"What?" the youkai asked.

"Who sent you?" Sanzo repeated with another twitch of his eyebrow; he hated repeating himself for anyone, let alone a youkai. "We haven't encountered youkai before that have powers like yours."

"There's a village," the youkai began, "a village a few miles away just west of here! The people there sent me! They sent me to kill all four of you!"

"A village?" Hakkai asked as he blinked. "There wasn't a village on the map…"

While Hakkai spoke, the youkai focused his eyes on the ground underneath Gojyo. The nearby shadows began to gather around Gojyo's feet, right where the youkai's eyes were alerted to. The shadows tried to move towards Sanzo but for some reason they just wouldn't move.

"Dammit," the youkai whispered. "He's better then nothing."

"What?" Sanzo narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you blabbering about?"

The youkai smiled. "Go to hell you pigs!!"

The shadows underneath Gojyo rose from the floor and began to crawl up his legs. Gojyo swung his arms out in all directions but the shadows wouldn't recede no matter what the red head did. Goku turned towards Gojyo and began to swing his Nyoi-bo towards the shadows to help Gojyo.

"Son of a bitch!" Gojyo yelled. "What the hell is goin' on?!"

"Just hold on!" Goku swung his weapon once more.

Hakkai reached out and tried to pull Gojyo out of the shadows but as he did so, the shadows rose over Gojyo's head and engulfed him completely. With his body covered in darkness, the shadows dragged Gojyo's body to the floor where a pool of shadows sat waiting.

"I'll see you in Hell!" the youkai screamed with a loud laugh following.

"Gojyo!" Hakkai called. "Gojyo!"

Goku bent down to the spot where Gojyo had once been. "Gojyo? Gojyo!"

"Dammit," Sanzo hissed as he turned back to the youkai. "What the hell did you do?"

The youkai grinned. "I sent him to Hell!! Haha! You'll never find that poor pig!"

Sanzo rolled his eyes and fired his gun. A bullet left the chamber and ripped through the youkai's head. The youkai fell back on the ground as blood began to gather around its head. Sanzo lowered his gun and turned back to the group.

"We're heading out," Sanzo said.

"What about Gojyo?" Goku asked as he stood.

Sanzo began walking back towards the hotel. "We're going to pick his sorry ass up."

Goku cocked his right eyebrow. "You know where he is?"

Hakkai sighed. "Are we going to get _any_ sleep tonight?"

"Let's get going, we're in a hurry," Sanzo ordered.

* * *

When Gojyo managed to open his eyes again, he saw nothing but mud underneath him. The sound of someone walking towards him came to him after a few moments of hearing nothing. He tried to move his arms to push himself up but he couldn't move. He couldn't move _anything_ but his eyelids.

The sound of someone walking stopped and before Gojyo could do or think of something else, his eyelids closed once more.

_What the hell?_ He thought.

* * *

"_Hey Kappa!! Wake up!!_"

Gojyo opened his eyes and saw a ceiling above him that he had never seen before. He blinked a few times before his eyes focused on a ceiling fan whirling around just above the top of the bed.

Whatever had happened with that youkai left large cuts up and down his body. Just as he came to, the pain from the injuries began to overtake his sense of confusion. He groaned out from the pain and gripped the white sheets underneath him. As he moved, Gojyo could feel that his chest had been wrapped in bandages, as well as his neck.

"Monkey? Hakkai?" Gojyo groaned. "Sanzo?"

"So you're awake now," a deep female voice said.

Even with the injuries he had, Gojyo turned his head to his right. There, sitting in a chair in front of an easel was a young woman. Her long legs stretched out in front of her as she pushed against the easel and rested on the two back legs of the wooden chair. Her brown hair was tied back into a bun with one strand hanging down near the right side of her face. Her eyes were a light brown color or appeared to be from where Gojyo was lying. She was wearing a white tank top and black pants that clung to her thin legs.

"Where am I?" Gojyo asked.

"The Village of the Gods," the woman answered. "I found you outside yesterday. Your wounds are bad; the town doctor says he hasn't seen someone with injuries as bad as yours in years."

"Shit." Gojyo turned attention back to the ceiling.

"Huh."

Gojyo let out a long, tired sigh. He began to close his eyes to rest when he heard the woman get up from her chair. His ears picked up on her footsteps but as she drew closer, Gojyo noticed a long pause between placing one foot down, and then a _clank_ noise against the wooden flooring. What if she were walking over to get a weapon?

Fearing the worst, Gojyo sat up and turned to the woman, ready to fight. But the minute she began walking towards him, he noticed that she was walking with a cane underneath her right hand. She took a step with her left leg, leaned on the cane, and moved forward with her left leg again.

She noticed his staring. "What?" she asked innocently.

Gojyo looked to his left. "Nothing," he muttered.

"Hurry up and lay back down," she barked. "You've got a really bad fever and I don't want to take you back to the doctor if you injure yourself again."

Gojyo opened his mouth to answer back when his fever got the best of him. He blanked out _again_ and fell forward. The woman sighed, and limped over to the kitchen to get a cold cloth for Gojyo's forehead.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Goku whined. "We've been driving all night!"

It was true; ever since the youkai attack Hakkai had been driving to the west towards this unnamed village. The youkai said that the village was only a _few_ miles away but Hakkai hadn't seen any kind of life on the dirt road he was taking. No signs, people, or even livestock.

"To tell the truth," Hakkai began as Sanzo slept, "this village the youkai was talking about isn't even on the map. I _think_ I'm heading in the right direction but—"

"Just keep driving," Sanzo muttered in his sleep.

Goku shuttered. "That creeps me out! How can Sanzo hear us in his sleep?"

"A skill he acquired when dealing with you and Gojyo's fights," Hakkai said with a slight laugh.

"Gojyo." Goku sighed as he fell back into the empty backseat. "Do ya really think he's at this village?"

"If he's not," Hakkai chuckled, "I fear that we may have to leave him wherever he is."

Goku blinked. "Are you serious Hakkai?"

Hakkai grinned. "Perhaps."

To be honest, Hakkai was worried out of his mind. He couldn't stand the fact that he didn't know what was happening to someone he cared for and was angry at _himself_ for letting anything happen to Gojyo. And Hakkai knew that deep down he wouldn't let Sanzo continue the journey without Gojyo in hand.

Suddenly, over a hill appeared a large village lined with a stone wall. Hakkai stopped the jeep once they came over the hill to stare in awe of the size of the village. Hundreds of small homes lined each side of a large temple that stood in the middle of the village. Thousands of trees guard the barrier around the village that made the village itself appear to be a forest of some kind. From where the jeep was at the current moment, Hakkai guessed that it might take a few more hours to reach.

"Is…is that it?" Goku asked.

Hakkai took in a deep breath. "I hope so."

"Good," Goku groaned. "I'm starvin'!

* * *

A new, hot pain woke Gojyo. His eyes fluttered open because of the pain but the minute he came to, an overall heat consumed his body. He groaned and kicked the blankets away from his body.

"Shit," he moaned. "Why's it so damn hot in here?"

"So I can see that your fever is still high," the woman said.

Gojyo turned his head and saw her fumbling with something on the floor. Gojyo didn't bother to bend over to look; the throbbing in his head was bad enough without him moving around. He closed his eyes again and felt something cold against his forehead.

"The injury on your right arm is infected," she said. "_That_ is what's giving you such a high fever. Hopefully the medicine I gave you will kick in soon."

"Medicine?" Gojyo repeated.

She stood. "Just relax. If your fever hasn't broken by tonight, you're going back to the doctor."

"I've gotta go to the bathroom," Gojyo said as he sat up.

"Huh…good luck," she said.

The woman stepped away from the bed and Gojyo stood. For the first time he saw the remainder of the house he had been in for a day. Across from the bed was a large living room with nothing but an easel in the middle of it, and kitchen wear against the far wall. He could see stairs off to his left, with a door by the stairs that he assumed was the bathroom.

"That's the bathroom right?" he asked, pointing his index finger to the small door.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Don't faint; I don't think I can carry you."

Gojyo stepped away from the strange woman and over to the bathroom. He went in, closed the door, and looked at the mirror in front of the small sink. He was a mess. His hair stuck out at every possible angle, he had bags underneath both of his eyes along with cuts and scabs. The cuts on his stomach and chest didn't bother him much; the pain that had once come from them was had dissipated.

"Shit," he muttered with a slight chuckle.

He moved his right hand up to his face to touch one of the circles underneath his eye when he felt a sharp pain coming from his wrist. The pain reminded him that the woman said he had an injury there. He stared at the bandages around his wrist for a few seconds, and then he began to remove them.

_I'm startin' to act like that freakin' Monkey._ He thought. _I gotta touch everything and take everythin' apart._

Every inch of bandage that Gojyo removed reveled more and more of the bloody mess that had once been his wrist. The bandage gathered on the floor until it dropped off of his wrist entirely. The injury traveled across the front of his wrist to each corner while the top of it moved to the middle of his palm. Hardened blood, torn skin, and puss covered the wound, mixing with a white substance Gojyo figured to be medicine.

"Dammit," he whispered. "What did that asshole do to me?"

A knock on the door tore Gojyo's attention away from his wound.

"What?" he asked.

"You alright?" the woman said.

"Fine."

"Good."

He listened for the sound of her cane hitting the floor to fade as he wrapped his hand back up. Once he finished wrapping his wrist and hand, he went to the bathroom and walked out.

_If Hakkai were here dammit he'd be able to heal me._ Gojyo stepped into the living room to find that the woman had disappeared. _Great now she's gone._

The heat from his fever flared up and made the room spin. Gojyo stumbled away from the bathroom and began traveling over to the bed when something caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the painting the woman had been working on but what caught his attention was that it was a panting of Goku.

"Goku?" Gojyo asked out loud.

His attention away from the bed, Gojyo walked over to the easel and studied the picture that looked like Goku. All of the features Goku had were there: the brown, wild hair, youkai limiter, and bright yellow eyes. The strange thing about the painting was that Goku had cuffs around his wrists and ankles and a sad yet impatient look on his face.

_How could she paint something…like this?_ Gojyo asked himself. _She can't know Goku or the others…unless they've finally come to town to look for me._

The room swirled again. Gojyo took that as a warning and turned back to the bed he had been sleeping in. He stumbled one more time before he made it back to the bed with a heavy grunt. It was too hot for covers so Gojyo crawled on top of them.

"Shit it's hot."

* * *

Hours later, Hakkai, Sanzo, and Goku arrived within the village. They stopped beside the village gates, stepped out of the jeep and waited for it to transform back to Hakuryu. With the little dragon in hand, they entered the village.

"We should start looking for Gojyo," Hakkai said. "We don't know if he's been injured."

"What about a hotel room?" Sanzo asked.

"Food!" Goku cheered. "Come on Sanzo I'm starving!"

"I know." Sanzo's eyebrow twitched. "You complained the whole way down here about it."

Hakkai's stomach growled. "Maybe we should stop for something to eat. We haven't eaten in a while."

"What about the idiot?" Sanzo crossed his arms.

Hakkai smiled. "We could get something for him as well. He might be hungry when we find him."

"Yes!" Goku jumped. "Come on! Let's get something good!!"

Goku ran down the streets made of cobblestone and over to a store with pastries displayed in the window. He moved his face against the glass as the smell of baked goods entered his nose.

"This place!" Goku said as he pointed to the store. "Hurry up you guys!"

"We're coming!" Hakkai answered. The smile faded from his face as he turned to Sanzo. "Sanzo, what if Gojyo isn't in this village? Do you really plan on leaving him behind?"

Sanzo turned his head to the right, away from Hakkai. "We have an obligation to someone else. The only reason we came here is because those youkai came from this village…Gojyo just might happen to be here."

"But Sanzo," Hakkai blinked, "that doesn't reall—"

The sound of breaking glass cut the conversation short. Hakkai and Sanzo looked over towards Goku to make sure that he hadn't caused the trouble but instead of seeing Goku in trouble, they saw the woman who had been taking care of Gojyo standing beside Goku. The glass bottle she had been holding was now in thousands of pieces beside Goku's feet while both of her hands covered her mouth.

"Goku," she whispered.

"Somethin' wrong?" Goku asked back in a whisper.

Sanzo, Hakkai, and Goku weren't the only ones the smashing glass had attracted. People who had been walking by stopped at the noise and stared at the group in awe. As Goku began to step forward to talk to the woman, a man from the crowd of watchers took a step forward.

"A Sanzo Priest!" the man cheered. "A real Sanzo Priest has come to The Village of the Gods! We are blessed!"

The watchers cheered and began moving in towards Sanzo and Hakkai to praise Sanzo. Goku turned around, confused at what was going on between the strange woman in front of him and the group of people when the crowd parted and Sanzo stepped forward.

"How do you know Goku?" Sanzo asked the woman.

"Please Lord Sanzo!" a man said. "Don't speak to her, she's not worthy of your attention."

That caught Hakkai's attention. "Why not?" he inquired.

"She's nothing more then a crippled human with a dishonorable family name," another man said. "Now please, Lord Sanzo, allow us to find you and your servants a room within the Temple of the Gods."

Sanzo ignored the talking man. "I'm not asking about _who_ she is, I want to know how you," he looked towards her, "know Goku."

"I—" she began.

"Lord Sanzo," a woman interrupted, "she is a keeper of youkai. She brought home a red head half-breed yesterday; she's not worth speaking to."

"Gojyo!" Goku said with a grin crossing his face. "She found Gojyo!"

"That's his name?" she whispered.

"He has scars on the side of his face and shoulder length hair?" Hakkai stepped forward.

She nodded. "Yes. Come back to my house, he's there."

Sanzo closed his eyes. "Fine. We're going."

A male villager stepped forward. "But Lord Sanzo I—"

Instead of waiting for the villager to finish, Sanzo stepped over to the young woman along with Hakkai. She turned around and began limping back to her house while Sanzo, Hakkai, and Goku followed her. The villagers stood, watching the Sanzo Priest move further and further away in both anger and shame.

* * *

The woman led the trio back to her place. She allowed them into her house where Gojyo lay, sleeping on the bed with his mouth wide open. Goku walked over to the right side of the bed, rose his right fist, and slammed it down into Gojyo's sleeping face. Gojyo's face moved to the side and he sat up.

"What the hell…oh." He stopped speaking at the sight of Sanzo and Hakkai. "It's 'bout time you showed up!"

"Lay back down!" the woman warned. "You're still injured."

Hakkai strolled over to Gojyo's side. "Where are you injured?"

Gojyo moved his right hand to Hakkai. "Tore the shit outta my right wrist. Dunno what I did to it, I woke up and it was like that."

"I'll take care of it."

As Hakkai healed Gojyo's wrist, Sanzo studied the living room while the woman washed her hands in the kitchen. The first thing Sanzo's eyes caught was the painting of Goku Gojyo had been looking at. Sanzo stood in front of it; Goku, wondering what Sanzo was doing, stepped up beside him.

"Wow…this." Goku's eyes widened but before he could do or say anything else, a terrible pain stuck his head. He fell backwards onto the wooden floor, out cold.

"Now that makes that the second time today," the woman said. "What the hell is going on around here?"

Sanzo narrowed his eyes towards her. "Who are you and how do you know Goku?"

She sighed. "It's a long story but…"

"Hurry up then," Sanzo hissed.

The woman made her way over to the chair in the middle of the room and sat down. "This village is called The Village of the Gods because five hundred years ago four Gods came down here and blessed it. Years later the visit and blessing of the Gods became a legend and my family kept the legend by telling the story and drawing images of the Gods. One of the Gods happens to look and have the _same name_ as Goku," she explained.

"Same name and looks?" Hakkai repeated as he placed a pillow underneath Goku's head. "Could—"

"I doubt it," she cut in. "I doubt a God would come back to a village that doesn't believe in them."

"Why don't they believe?" Hakkai asked.

The woman closed her eyes. "The local Sanzo Priest threw out the legend before he disappeared a few years ago. Since then no one has believed in the legend of the Gods and my family name was spit on."

Sanzo perked. "Is there a Sutra here?"

"Yes." The woman nodded. "The Uten Sutra is hidden somewhere in the village. Our Sanzo Priest left it before he vanished after the youkai began to act up."

"Now we have something else to get in this town," Sanzo said as he turned away from the woman. "We'd better move out."

"But Sanzo," Hakkai protested, "Goku's out cold."

Sanzo rolled his eyes. "Fine. Do you have any extra beds?"

"I have six beds upstairs you four can use," the woman answered.

Hakkai stood and bowed. "Thank you for the beds."

"You'll be staying here for awhile ya know," she said in a serious tone.

"Why?" Sanzo growled.

"Because," she chuckled, "once youkai and Holy Beings enter this village they can _never_ leave."

* * *

R&R please! 


	2. Introduction

I don't own Saiyuki or any of its characters. I only own the woman-Asai Senzai, the village, and the doctor.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Because," she chuckled, "once youkai and Holy Beings enter this village they can _never_ leave."

Hakkai blinked, confused. "Why not?" he asked.

"This is the Village of the Gods," she said. "We're used to having Holy Beings in this village but because we're lacking one, there's a barrier around the village that holds in any Holy Being that comes in. Youkai's are kept to be a sacrifice to the Gods to _hope_ for a Holy Being."

"So are you saying—"

"Yes," the woman said with a nod of her head. "The people here want me to give up the red head so they can sacrifice him. He is to die tomorrow night at midnight."

"Huh." Sanzo turned his head away from the woman. "And what were _you_ planning to do?"

"Red head's too weak to be a sacrifice. The people here won't give a sick youkai to the Gods, so I've been keeping him sick," she answered.

"What?" Gojyo twitched. "_That's_ why I haven't been gettin' any better?"

She nodded. "Sorry but it's what I had to do. You've still got your fever but I presume that your friend has healed your wrist."

"It was pretty infected," Hakkai said with a small smile. "What were you doing to it?"

"Putting dirt from my backyard in it," she said without shame.

The room fell silent for a moment. Gojyo's eyes widened as a sudden pain came to his wrist. Hakkai suppressed a laugh while Sanzo narrowed his eyes towards the woman. As things began to become awkward, Goku's eyes fluttered open.

"Guys?" Goku whispered.

"Goku!" Hakkai cheered as he bent down to the small boy's level. "Are you feeling alright? You just fainted."

Goku blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision. "I think I'm okay," he said. "I feel a little woozy though, like I'm gonna…"

Bile from his empty stomach traveled up through his esophagus and into his mouth. His cheeks filled up as the saliva in his mouth dried. He stood, looking around for a bathroom to run to when the woman pointed to the bathroom. Goku followed the woman's finger, ran into the bathroom, and threw up.

"Excuse me," Hakkai said with a bow.

Hakkai ran off to the bathroom to check up on Goku, leaving Sanzo and Gojyo alone with the strange, unnamed woman. Before anyone could speak, the woman stood and walked over to the stove. She turned it on, and placed a pot of boiling water onto a burner.

"I'll make tea," she said. "You can go upstairs and check everything out if you want."

"That _not_ my main concern right now," Sanzo growled. "What is the name of the Sutra in this town?"

"Like I said," she turned back to Sanzo, "it is the "The Uten Sutra, the Sutra of life and existence. What Sutra do you have?"

The blond turned away from her. "I'm going to look upstairs," he said. "After I'm done, I want you to tell me where to find it; I've got a sneaky suspicion that _you_ know where it is."

She shrugged. "Believe what you want."

Sanzo walked away from the woman, and traveled up the nearby stairs up into the large bedroom. There six beds lay just as she had said, all with thick blue blankets over them and large fluffy pillows on them. There were lamps on every nightstand beside each bed, and a small window at the end of the room.

_Its better then nothing._ Sanzo told himself.

* * *

As the woman prepared her tea, a knock came to the door. Gojyo stood, and answered out of habit. A man stood there, dressed in a white jacket with a black bag in his hands. The man's eyes widened when he saw Gojyo.

"The youkai," the man in the white said.

Gojyo opened his mouth to answer when the woman who had picked him up pushed him out of the doorway.

"Senzai," the man at the door said. "It looks like the youkai you've been caring for as gotten better. Is he ready?"

"No," she said. "He's still fighting a fever off. There's no point in sending a feverish youkai to the Gods is there? He'll just burden their doorstep!"

"Let me," the man stepped in, "be the one who decides that."

The woman sighed, moved her narrowed eyes towards Gojyo and stepped to the side. The man at the door, the town's doctor walked into the house and pointed to the bed where Gojyo had been sleeping. Gojyo laid back down on the bed and made the best sick face he could.

"Senzai," the doctor said as he looked around, "do you have more guests here?"

"Yes," she answered. "It's really none of your business but they're all ill."

The doctor laughed. "Since when have you been in _my_ profession?"

She rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. "Please just check the red head out and move on. I've got a full day of painting ahead of me," she said.

The doctor did as told and began checking over Gojyo. The red headed man did everything he could to appear sick; he moaned and groaned whenever the doctor touched his stomach or wrist, and hissed out in a fake pain. While this went on, Hakkai walked out of the bathroom with Goku hanging onto his right arm.

"I ain't feelin' so well," Goku groaned.

"We'll get you up to bed in a moment Goku," Hakkai said in a comforting tone. "Just hold on for a few more seconds."

The woman caught Hakkai and Goku going upstairs. "There's another bathroom up there if he needs to use it," she said. "Pick any bed in the room where the Sanzo Priest went."

"Sanzo Priest?" the doctor said in surprise. "There isn't a Sanzo Priest here! We would know it by now!"

"Well there's one upstairs doc," Gojyo said.

"Impossible." The doctor turned to the young woman. "Show him to me Senzai."

She sighed. "Sanzo!" she called. "Please come down here, you're being beckoned!"

* * *

Sanzo was leaning against the only window in the room, smoking. He watched the people walk by and wondered how he was going to get himself and the rest of his children out of this place in one piece when Hakkai came through the door with Goku.

"He threw up a lot," Hakkai said. "But I think he's gotten rid of a lot of whatever was bothering him."

"Good." Sanzo turned his attention back to the window. "I don't want him to throw up when we go looking for that Sutra."

Hakkai cocked his right eyebrow as he set Goku down in a bed. "Don't you think we should at least wait until tomorrow? We haven't gotten any sleep or anything to eat for a while."

"This is too important to wait for," Sanzo answered.

"Sanzo," Hakkai said with a heavy sigh.

"Sanzo!" a female voice called from the bottom half of the house. "Sanzo!!"

"You're being called," Hakkai pointed out.

Sanzo twitched. "Dammit I don't get a second to myself anymore."

* * *

A few minutes later Sanzo came walking down the stairs with an irritated look on his face. The doctor dropped his medicine bag onto the floor as his jaw hit the floor along with his bag. A Sanzo Priest had really come back to the town!

"A Sanzo Priest," the doctor said with a bow. "I'm honored to be in your presence!"

"Good for you," Sanzo said. "Now what seems to be the problem here?"

"Nothing," the doctor turned to Gojyo, "I was just about to set a day for this monster to be sacrificed and I would value your opinion."

Sanzo sighed. Gojyo looked over towards Sanzo, hoping that the blond man wouldn't say something sarcastic that would make him lose his head. Gojyo sat up as he waited for Sanzo's answer.

"The youkai I'm traveling with are _not_ to be killed," Sanzo ordered. "Now leave and inform the town's folk before they come to bang down this door."

"Yes." The doctor bowed. "But please come and stay in a better, for elegant place! This small home is not what a man of your honor deserves!"

"I'm staying here," Sanzo said as he lowered his chin to his chest. "Now _leave_."

The doctor bowed again, gathered his things, and left the house. The young woman moved her attention towards Sanzo and bowed her head towards him. Sanzo opened one of his eyes and crossed his arms.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"Your partner here was a pain in the ass to cover for," she said as she pointed to Gojyo, "now I don't have to do it. I was saying thank you."

"Yeah they're all a pain in the ass." Sanzo turned away and began walking up the stairs once more.

"Hey!" Gojyo yelled.

"I'm going to bed for a while, I want you to take me to the Sutra later," Sanzo said without bothering to turn back around.

The woman nodded. "Yes."

With that said and done, Sanzo returned to the room where he and the others were going to stay. When he arrived in the room he saw Hakkai sleeping underneath the covers of one bed with Hakuryu sleeping on the top of his pillow and Goku on top of the covers in another. Sanzo picked out a bed, the closest one to Goku, and crawled underneath the covers. The minute his head touched the pillow, he fell into a deep, well deserved sleep.

The woman, once Sanzo had walked upstairs, limped over to her painting and began working on it again. Gojyo moved his legs over the side of his bed and watched her for a few minutes.

"Are you tired?" she asked. "Go back to sleep before your fever gets any worse."

"Huh." Gojyo laid back down. "No thanks to you and your dirt."

"You're _welcome_," she hissed.

Gojyo rested his head against the pillow he had been sleeping against for the past few days and fell asleep quickly.

* * *

Hours later, once the sun had began to set, Gojyo woke up. He sat up, pushed the covers aside and stretched his arms up into the air. He gave a quick yawn and turned his head to see the strange woman sitting in her chair in front of her easel, fast asleep.

_I can't let her sleep like that!_ Gojyo told himself. _I can at least give her bed back to her._

He stepped out of the bed, stepped over to her, and picked her up. She was lighter then he thought she would be; he figured that her baggy pants made her legs look bigger then they really were. He then brought her over to the bed and set her down gently. She groaned when her body hit the bed but instead of waking up, she grabbed the blanket and rolled over to face the wall.

"Sleep," he whispered.

Gojyo moved away from the bed and over to the painting the strange woman had been sitting in front of. It was the same one from before, the one of a younger looking Goku with chains around his wrists and ankles only now the name "Goku" had been written on the bottom of it.

"_One of the Gods happens to look and have the same name as Goku."_

_Little monkey better not be a God or I'll kill him._ Gojyo thought.

Before Gojyo could think or anything else to think or say about Goku, he felt his stomach rumble. Another reminder of the monkey, Gojyo walked away from the painting and began to look through the kitchen for something to eat.

"Hungry?" Hakkai's voice asked in a whisper.

Gojyo turned around and saw Hakkai walking towards him with his usual smile on his face. Gojyo grinned and continued to search through the cabinets. Hakkai stepped up beside Gojyo.

"Maybe we should go out for something and take a look around his place," Hakkai said. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Gojyo sighed. "I don't think goin' out without Blondie would be a good idea. People here don't see to like us youkai."

"True," Hakkai said as he cupped his chin. "I'll make us something then with the food here."

"Well hurry up!" Gojyo teased. "I'm stravin'!"

* * *

An hour later Sanzo, Goku, and Gojyo were playing a quiet game of cards up in the bedroom while Hakkai cooked dinner downstairs. Hakkai was doing his best to keep his actions silent, but a few pots and pans did clank together once in a while. After working away in the kitchen, Hakkai had finally finished dinner.

"There," he whispered to himself. "Now if I can get the others…"

Hakkai turned around and looked over towards the woman to see if she was asleep to see her looking back at him with her eyes half open.

"I'm sorry if I woke you," Hakkai said with a bow. "I've made plenty of dinner, will you join us?"

She pulled the covers over her head. "This bed smells like youkai," she hissed.

He chuckled. "I can do some washing tomorrow morning if you'd like."

"No," she said from under the covers. "You've done enough."

Hakkai gave a smile she didn't see, and walked over to the bottom of the stairs. "Come get something to eat!" he called. "Dinner's ready!"

The sound running footsteps echoed down through the upstairs hallway and down into the living room. Goku quickly appeared at the top of the stairs with his eyes wide open in excitement.

"Food!" Goku cheered.

Behind Goku came Sanzo, and then Gojyo. Goku jumped down the remaining stairs, and ran into the living room. Sanzo twitched; annoyed that Goku was running around a place as if it were his own home.

"Where is it?" Goku asked as he looked around the living room.

"Right over there," Hakkai said.

Goku ran away from Hakkai and over to the counter where the plates of steaming food stood. Sanzo walked over to Hakkai as Gojyo ran over to join Goku in scooping up large amounts of food.

"At least it smells good," Sanzo mumbled.

Hakkai grinned. "Why thank you! Now please go enjoy your dinner."

Sanzo stepped away from Hakkai and over to the food where made his way through the piles of rice with Goku and Gojyo. Hakkai moved over towards the young woman's bed and sat down on the side of her bed.

"Are you going to be eating?" he asked.

"Yes." She nodded her head underneath the blankets. "Thank you, I was worried about what we were going to eat."

"No need to worry about us," Hakkai said with a slight laugh.

A few minutes later, Hakkai stood and began to place food in bowls and onto plates he had found in the kitchen cabinets. The rest of the group: Goku, Sanzo, and Gojyo retreated to the back of the room and began eating. Just as Hakkai finished filling his plate with food, the strange woman pushed the covers back.

Hakkai turned to face her. "Are you coming to eat with us?" he asked.

"No." She shook her head. "I eat by myself."

She stood, gathered her food, and walked over to the back of the room. There she opened a hidden door that led into the backyard, stepped through it, and closed the door behind her.

"Damn," Gojyo said. "What's up with her?"

"She's just one of those people," Hakkai said as he sat down beside the red head. "Some people eat alone."

"But," Goku paused for a moment, "isn't that…lonely?"

Sanzo placed a large amount of rice in his mouth. "Some people like it that way," he said.

"I guess," Goku said, still a bit confused.

Together the four ate the dinner that Hakkai had cooked for them, and began to drink the saké the woman had left out for them, or rather, herself. As they finished eating, Hakkai took in a large breath of air.

"So what are we going to do?" he asked.

"We're going to see where the Sutra is," Sanzo answered. "One of us needs to go with her to see it, and I _want_ to go."

"But Sanzo," Hakkai began, "I don't think it would be a good idea to leave us youkai alone. Do you think we should all go?"

"I wanna go!" Goku added. "Let's all go with her! Can we go?"

"I don't care," Sanzo said with a twitch of his eyebrow. "We're heading out in a few hours."

"Good a walk after dinner!" Goku said with a large grin.

"Perhaps," Hakkai turned to the door to the backyard, "I should go inform her."

Hakkai stood, grabbed two cups of saké, and walked over to the back door. He opened it, stepped out, closed the door behind him, and saw the woman sitting on a small wooden bench against the wall with a bowl of rice beside her.

"Excuse me," Hakkai said. "I was wondering if you'd come with us to find that Sutra you were talking about earlier."

"Tomorrow morning," she said. "The temple it's in is locked up now. Not even _I_ can get in and my family used to hold it."

"Oh." Hakkai blinked. "I'm sure we can head out early in the morning."

She nodded. "That would work much better. We can get there before all of the morning ceremonies."

"Alright then." Hakkai walked over to the bench and sat down. "Drink with me?"

"Sure."

She took the small cup the saké was in, and drank it without a pause. Hakkai did as well, and then let out a large, comforting sigh.

"Thank you," Hakkai began, "for picking up Gojyo."

"He needed help," she said with a shrug. "I couldn't let the people here get rid of someone just because of his hair color."

"I found him," she let her shoulder droop, "all torn up. Some child villagers were messing around with him. They were throwing rocks at him, and poking him with a stick."

The image of children poking Gojyo made a small giggle escape from Hakkai's mouth. He did his best to hide it, but before long he giggled out loud. She let out a small chuckle in response but then went quiet.

Hakkai leaned back against the wooden bench and moved his head against the back of the wall. The sun began to set around them and the dark night sky began to devour the bright sky. A cold breeze came over them, and the girl shivered a bit.

"Cold?" Hakkai asked.

"Yeah." She shivered again. "It gets cold around here at night. I'll give you extra blankets tonight; I think it might rain soon."

"Rain." Hakkai sighed. "Thank you for letting us stay here."

"It's alright," she said. "It's a bit nice to have people running through the house again. Ever since my family moved away I've been lonely."

"Then why are you eating alone?"

"It's something I've grown used to," she answered. "Eating with strangers…"

He chuckled. "Don't worry. I'm not forcing you to eat with us; I'm just saying that I would _like_ you to eat with us. You've done us a favor by letting us stay here for free."

She crossed her legs. "Thank Goku. Seeing him reminds me of the Gods that used to visit here."

"Alright." Hakkai nodded. "I'll thank Goku. By the way, you haven't told me your name yet."

"Is Asai," she said with a slight smile, "Asai Senzai."

* * *

R&R please! 


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